# Leading causes of death for Americans, annually **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485 "2005-10-10T02:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/1 "2005-10-10T02:27:49Z")
I know different sources may vary in the stats, but my numbers I had are: 16,000 aids 16,000 murder 20,000 flu 20,000 influenza 30,000 septicemia 30,000 suicides 40,000 nephrosis 41,000 car 50,000 alzheimers 70,000 diabetes 120,000 respiratory 160,000 stroke 550,000 cancer 700,000 heart disease w/ heart disease absolutely hailed as the leading killer. Can anyone add to this? What does wikipedia have to say about the topic (kinda hard to search for)? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/2 "2005-10-10T02:30:51Z")
I expected heart disease and cancer to lead the pack, but I didn’t expect the number of suicides to be nearly double the number of murders. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/3 "2005-10-10T02:33:54Z")
Really? Cause, as against-human-nature as suicide is, is it that hard to believe that more of the normal guys and gals you know would quietly end their own lives out of sadness and desparation then aggressively murder another American, thus risking getting shot by the cops, jailtime, death penalty- it’s no shock to me. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/4 "2005-10-10T02:35:12Z")
Spree killings are incredibly rare, and there are only an estimated 30- if not less- serial killers in the US right now. That may seem high, but given a nation of 300 million in 19,500 cities… ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/5 "2005-10-10T02:40:23Z")
Here’s how the causes of death (in the USA) have changed over time [Deaths by Major Causes, 1960–2002](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005124.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/6 "2005-10-10T02:44:21Z")
Your numbers are missing a couple of things: Cirrohosis of the liver is a leading cause of death at 9.6 per hundred thousand. It comes in somewhere between #8 and #11 depending on the source. You are also missing automobile accidents at about 16 per 100,000 and accidents in general at 35 per 100,000. Many studies show that hospital accidents are a leading cause of death. That includes adverse effects of medicine, hospital related infections, as well as true errors. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/7 "2005-10-10T02:46:58Z")
[Here](http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/death_stats.html) are some figures with age ranges. Interesting - up to 35 motor accidents is the leading cause of death. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/8 "2005-10-10T03:02:11Z")
The CDC gives some very detailed information [here](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr53/nvsr53_05.pdf) (Big PDF). They list the following as the biggest causes of death for 2002. ```auto Total 100.0% 2,443,387 Diseases of heart 28.5% 696,947 Malignant neoplasms (cancer) 22.8% 557,271 Cerebrovascular diseases 6.7% 162,672 Chronic lower resperatory diseases 5.1% 124,816 Accidents 4.4% 106,742 Diabetes mellitus 3.0% 73,249 Influenza/pneumonia 2.7% 65,681 Alzheimer's disease 2.4% 58,866 Nephritis/nephrotic syndrome 1.7% 40,974 Septicemia 1.4% 33,865 Suicide 1.3% 31,655 Liver disease and cirrhosis 1.1% 27,257 Hypertension and hypertensive renal disease 0.8% 20,261 Homicide 0.7% 17,638 Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids 0.7% 17,593 Everything else 16.7% 407,900 ``` ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leading-causes-of-death-for-americans-annually/325485/9 "2005-10-10T08:42:04Z")
And here is another source: > **[United States Health Facts & Stats](https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/profiles/United-States/Health)** > > Find out how United States ranks internationally on Health. Get the facts and compare to other countries!